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Thursday, November 4, 2010

My Good Enough For Now Bathroom

I had a dozen different ideas for the title of this post. Here are some of my best ones:

Getting the biggest bang for no bucks

I may be certifiably insane

More signs of my DIY addiction

Dizzy Diagonals Disappear!

It's better than it was before bathroom

My own version of Trading Spaces

Back story: My house is 46 years old (coincidentally, it was built the same year as the home I grew up in, and is almost the exact same size!). Every room has been updated in the last 20 years - except the bathroom. The day I looked at this house, it was an eyesore - so OBVIOUSLY needed some TLC. But the rest of the house was marvelous, so we bought it.

I have great plans for this room. AMAZING plans. However, they involve replacing every. single. thing. in the ENTIRE room (plus moving a wall!) Since my budget is full of things like apples and diapers, that plan is a long way off. So I just lived with this:

Ummmmmmm. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.I have no idea what someone was smoking when they decided to put up real bead board panelling, on a diagonal, floor to ceiling, and add crown molding, and then leave everything natural wood. Oh, and the two toned ivy-ish stencil on the ceiling. That really changes the feel of the room. It was something, let me tell you. Hubby liked it (he thought it felt like a log cabin). Not exactly what I was wanting though.

I'd thought about painting that panelling, but I've heard just how frustrating painting bead board is, and I kind of have hopes of turning it all into an adorable real bed for my room someday, and really just didn't want to bother with it.

Last week, I'd had enough! I was between projects, I HATED this room, passionately! I'm not sure which of my inspiration friends (maybe the nester or thrifty decor chic?) have inspired me. If I hate it, whatever I do trying to make it better, couldn't be any worse, right? If horrible things happen, well, then I'm still stuck with a bathroom I hate.

So Tuesday night I picked up a pry bar from Happy Mom, and I went at it. By myself, I pulled down all that panelling (well, almost all of it.) And discovered that there was no drywall underneath. Instead there was plywood.

Hmmm. Ok. So this officially became my well-it-could-be-worse room. And I decided to see just how much change I could do WITHOUT SPENDING A NICKEL.

What do you think.

A bit different?I reached the certifiably insane point when I decided I should also paint the cabinets, and try to get the whole thing done before I leave for Texas Friday morning (yes, that would be just about exactly 48 hours, hence the trading spaces title, even though I didn't trade with anyone, did it all myself, and did it in two days instead of one). I made it, but it was a bit more than I could really chew trying to get everything done that fast! I'm also pretty sure that the paint will end up chipping on the cabinets.

Do I love it?Well, sorta. The paint is all left over stuff. The white is from the bunk bed, the blue actually came with the house. I'm really done with my shower curtain, but I liked the idea of saying I didn't spend any money at all on this. I like the paint colors way better than I thought. However, the blue is flat paint. I really hate the way flat paint feels - an on top of plywood, it's even worse. There are also some big gaps where I couldn't get the paint in.

And taking off 1/4 inch thick paneling all across the room meant that the crown molding was now too small, so there's some great creative optical illusions going on in the room. And I didn't know how to unhook all the pluming to move the toilet and vanity to get all the board off, so there are some really raggedy places.

But I must say, it looks SOOOO much nicer in here. Much closer to the feel I want in my home.

50 lbs in 6 months

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About Me

I'm a remodelin’/cross stitchin’/ gooey bakin’/digi scrapin' / pieced quiltin'/ crafty decoratin'/ landscaping/ book luvin/ mom, that has been known to spout randomness at will, with an occasional moment of profoundness mixed in just to throw everyone off.